Trump's lawyers urge judge to reject special counsel's request for gag order in classified docs case
Donald Trump’s lawyers on Friday hit back at special counsel Jack Smith in the classified documents case by opposing his request to bar the former president from making any statements that prosecutors say endanger law enforcement involved in the investigation.
Donald Trump’s lawyers on Friday hit back at special counsel Jack Smith in the classified documents case by opposing his request to bar the former president from making any statements that prosecutors say endanger law enforcement involved in the investigation.
In a 20-page filing, defense attorneys argued that Smith “seeks to restrict President Trump’s campaign speech” ahead of the first debate with President Joe Biden later this month.
Smith’s team asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in May to modify Trump’s conditions of release in the case, citing Trump’s false claims about FBI agents being prepared to kill him during the search at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents. Prosecutors said such statements have “endangered law enforcement officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case.”
Trump’s lawyers argued that Smith’s request should be denied on the basis of “the ambiguities, lack of enforcement criteria, and resulting chilling effect.” They also called it “a naked effort to impose totalitarian censorship of core political speech.”
The defense said that “not a single FBI agent who participated in the raid submitted an affidavit, or even an argument, claiming that President Trump’s remarks put them at risk.”
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